


Halt and Catch Fire

by get-glitched (get_glitch3d), get_glitch3d



Category: Mr. Robot (TV)
Genre: Character Development, F/M, Flashback Usage, Outgoing OFC, Sexual Content, Shit, Swearing, Will Tag as Necessary, basic computer commands, hacking (of course), halt and catch fire command, no one is safe, no point in crying over spilt coffee, obvious lack of empathy, possible drug use, sacred hoodie of babedom, summary is shit yikes sorry, this'll be edited to be kept up to date every so often
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-17
Updated: 2015-10-13
Packaged: 2018-04-21 06:05:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4817900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/get_glitch3d/pseuds/get-glitched, https://archiveofourown.org/users/get_glitch3d/pseuds/get_glitch3d
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Do you know the command 'halt and catch fire'?" Charlie questioned, staring down at Elliot's head in her lap.</p><p>"Yeah... It's outdated, but it's a command to cease meaningful operation... Which requires a restart of the computer, usually."</p><p>"If a person were to take that command, what do you think would happen?"</p><p>Elliot didn't say anything, he didn't reply to her question for a moment. "Nothing, I guess... Or total destruction."</p><p>–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––XxX––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––</p><p>Elliot didn't expect to fall for Charlie. He didn't understand what set off the feelings he had for her, at first. Then again, it's difficult when the girl of your dreams is a cubicle separator away with spilt coffee all over her shirt, and all you can do to start a relationship is give her your hoodie.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 001. Sacred Hoodie of Babedom

**Author's Note:**

> I'm such Rami Malek trash. Call the police, 'cause he's criminally good. (Lame joke counter: 1.)

Elliot didn't know what he felt for her, not at first, anyway. She was oddly simple, in a way. He hadn't talked to her at all in the time he'd seen her around the office, he _couldn't._ Elliot had noticed that she was an extrovert, to put it to terms. She enjoyed being around other people, she appeared happier wen other people were around her. She made jokes and talked abouts movies, books, and anything other than work, while being at work. He didn't know how she was at parties, he never went to any. She was more casual than anyone he'd seen before, but she was also professional.

Her hair was a deep chocolate color, it was a only collarbone length and at the ends her hair curled up almost like turned vines. He knew her hair had been different colors, mainly due to social media – blue, green, blond, and black. But Elliot liked her best with her natural brown hair, it shined sometimes, if you caught it in the right light, that is. Elliot hacked her once, well, it was supposed to be once. It happened a couple times, actually.

She had clever passwords, some of them were a bit more complicated than others, but nonetheless he got through them. He noticed something, though. She wrote a lot. All over her desktop were folders of different genres of things she'd written. From poetry to love stories to angst filled manuscripts, she had them. He felt odd reading them without her permission, considering she wrote about everyone in the office, even herself. He had yet to find a document about himself, though.

Maybe she objected to writing about certain people? Elliot shook his head slightly as he stared at his screen. _Maybe she just hasn't gotten around to me, yet._ He thought. He didn't know why he cared, honestly. He glanced at her over his cubicle, she was off in the kitchen getting coffee. Something else he noticed was she was his height, but she was a couple inches taller when she wore her favorite one-inch healed combat boots. Elliot sighed to himself. Why did he care so much?

“Hey, Chas.” Elliot heard across the top of the cubicles. He glanced up to see Angela beside her, Charlotte. She hated the name Charlotte. She couldn't stress it enough when she was writing about herself. She preferred Charlie and Chas, and sometimes Elliot heard people calling her “Chuck”. 

“Hi.” Charlie replied softly, giving Angela a small smile. She cleared her throat and spoke again, much louder than previously. “Sorry, I'm getting over a cold. My throat is still a bit sore.” 

Angela nodded slightly, she smiled knowingly. “Is that why you were gone for a few days?”

“Yeah.” Charlie muttered, bringing the paper cup to her lips in order to take a sip. She swallowed and grinned slightly with relief as the warm liquid funneled down her throat. “I was on lemon tea with honey for that whole time.” She nearly huffed.

“I thought you hate tea?”

“I do, but coffee was keeping me up too long.”

Angela raised an eyebrow, watching the woman beside her. “Try decaf.”

“Nah.” Charlie brushed off, shaking her head slightly before she looked down. This caused her hair to shift and brush against her blue shirt, the shade was setting off her pale skin, making it appear almost porcelain. “Decaf doesn't sit well with me.”

Angela sighed and glanced around, meeting eyes with Elliot before he leaned back down into his seat and she tilted her head a bit. She reached out and set her left hand on Charlie's wrist, patting it slightly before Charlie flinched slightly, backing away.

“I hope your throat feels better.” Angela stated.

“Thanks, me too.” Charlie replied, smiling a bit. “I'm gonna get back to work.” 

“I think we all should.” Angela grinned, throwing a glance at Elliot's cubicle as he peeked over the side and met eyes with his friend once more. Charlie gave her a confused look before retreating back to her desk, setting the cup down as she pulled her chair in and accidentally sloshed her coffee all over her shirt. 

She swore loudly, the curse coming out in a hiss as she pulled her shirt away from her skin. The hot coffee stinging her skin. Charlie looked around and sighed, standing up to look down at her shirt and stretch it out a bit more. When Charlie looked up from her shirt, there was a black hoodie hanging across the middle separator. She looked at it for a moment before seeing Elliot sinking back into his seat. He looked at it with his eyes then looked at her, nodding slightly. 

“Uh, thanks.” She smiled, reaching for the hoodie. Elliot nodded again, watching her grasp it easily and walked to the restroom where she chose a stall, walked in and shut it, locking it easily. She pulled off her blue t-shirt and balled it up, wiping her skin as she stared down at her bra.

“Horrible day to decide not to wear a tank top.” She muttered to herself, shaking her head as she pulled on the hoodie. It was slightly baggy on her, but fit nonetheless. “Thank God for linebacker shoulders.” Charlie huffed as she stared in the mirror, Elliot's hoodie covering her torso as she held her shirt in her right hand. She adjusted it around her waist, but had no real need to around her shoulders. Like she said, she possessed broad shoulders or in her perspective, “linebacker shoulders”. 

Charlie walked from the restroom, reaching her cubicle in no time whatsoever. She hung her soaked shirt on the edge of her chair and looked over her cubicle.

“Thanks.” She told Elliot, watching him nod once more, third time in a row. “I'll get your hoodie back to you tomorrow, is that alright?”

“Yeah.” He muttered, looking straight at his screen instead of strictly at Charlie. “That's fine.”

Charlie, feeling slightly dismissed and a bit awkward, sat down and began working again. She'd probably wash the hoodie and give it to him first thing tomorrow morning, but at the same time she liked how it hung loosely on her and how it smelled – _like him._ That is to say she would have to not give it back and avoid him and whatever questions he had of what the hell she did with his hoodie.

She stared at the small cup of coffee that caused her shirt's _oh so_ opportune downfall, for the time being anyway. Charlie didn't mind, honestly. She thought Elliot was cute, considering he had bestowed the sacred hoodie of babedom upon her, the one that made him even cuter. But he wouldn't even meet her eyes. 

She could deal with that.


	2. 002. Check Your Pockets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The sacred hoodie of babedom is returned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I apologize for taking so long to update, I didn't realize it had been over a week.

Charlie was walking into Allsafe Cybersecurity with Elliot's hoodie loosely draped over her right arm. Her left was holding her tech I.D outward to show the security guard who she was. 

“Charlie Hanes.” He read with a slow tone, bored almost as he squinted slightly. He put on his glasses before apologizing. “Sorry, Charlie James.” He corrected himself, smiling at the much younger female. Much younger than him, anyway. 

“It's alright, Donald.” She smiled back, dropping her name tag. The older man was a bit forgetful sometimes, but Charlie was more patient with him than other people. Sure, not everyone had to get carded, or even needed to present their I.D. – okay, that's not true. They carded nearly everybody, especially when you worked on the floor with Gideon. 

Charlie moved easily into the elevator and then out, reaching her floor before pushing open the glass doors to the office as she walked forward. No one moved to glance at her, no one usually did. No one but Elliot, that is. But he wasn't just no one, or a nobody. He was somebody. She walked over to him and removed the black hoodie from her arm, thrusting it outwards toward him. He stared at her for a moment, then glanced at the fabric before looking back up at her.

“It's yours.” Charlie stated, already saying what he knew. “Take it.” She urged.

Elliot reached out for it, his right hand closing over the top part of it. The way she had it, it was easy for him to grasp it with his one hand. 

'Thanks.” He muttered, feeling her hand under it as he pulled it from her grasp. “You could've kept it.” He shrugged slightly, watching Charlie drop her hands to her sides. She brought her right hand up to adjust her glasses as she watched him. “I have other hoodies.” Elliot informed, getting out as many words as he could, especially since the opportunity presented itself, despite his current awkward tone and equally as awkward feelings. 

“Well, I didn't want you to worry about it.” Charlie stated, as stupid as it sounded, she was serious. “If any of my things go missing, I tend to panic.”

Elliot almost said “I know” considering he'd seen it on her Facebook page. Instead he forced an awkward smile. “It's fine.” He said, taking it the way she had folded it before draping it over his chair, showing Charlie that he, in fact, had another hoodie. He put the one she'd given back over the one he'd worn in. 

“You weren't kidding.” Charlie said, looking at the article of clothing. She stood there for a moment, watching him before looking around as he awkwardly moved his eyes from her. “I'll, uh, leave you to work.” She said before circling the cubicle, going to her side and sitting down. They both had work to do. 

XxX

Charlie was exiting the building, this time, when she heard running behind her as she stepped into the elevator. The doors shut just as she saw a blur of black smack against the door. “The hell?” She whispered, looking at the sealed doors for a moment before looking over to the numbers on the silver wall. The button for the first floor was lit, signaling that's the one she chose. 

When she reached the lobby, Donald was switching out with Rita.

“See you later, Rita – Donald!” Charlie waved, hearing a loud and heavy thumping above her. “Must be the stairs.” She muttered, watching Rita look up as well before saying good-bye. Charlie made it down the street and a little ways away from Allsafe when she heard the running once more. She glanced behind her as she pulled her phone from her back-left pocket and her earbuds from her back-right, plugging the earbud jack into it's place in the phone.

Charlie glanced behind her once more to see that he loud, smacking of shoes against concrete was Elliot. He slowed once he caught up to her, stretching his arm out to present something to her.

“How did you get these?” Charlie asked as she took her keys from him, 

“My hoodie.” Elliot said, standing a bit straighter as he caught his breath from running. “They were in there.”

Charlie looked down at them and furrowed her eyebrows before nodding, blushing slightly at her mistake of leaving them in there. “Uh, thanks... Oh, I forgot to wash it, by the way... Sorry, I just didn't get around to it. I'm not gross or anything, just felt like you wouldn't want any hints of female smell on it.” She babbled before she paused. “That sounds weird, sorry.” Charlie apologized again. 

He didn't say anything, he just nodded and backed up a little bit, grasping his hood. He began retreating in the other direction, about to put his hood up when Charlie spoke.

“Hey, you know, I never caught your name, like officially.”

“Elliot.” He replied, watching her smile. “You're Charlie, I know that. Angela talks about you sometimes.”

“Ah, so you're Elliot.” She grinned slightly, watching him nod a little bit. “Angela talks about you, too.”

Elliot smiled then, to be polite. He was turning again when she stopped him, once more.

“Would you like to get some coffee, sometime?”

Elliot froze for a moment. 

“I promise I won't spill any on myself or you, that was a one time thing.” Charlie said, watching Elliot smile weakly. “And if you don't like coffee, we can go get a drink or two.” 

“Sure.” His replies were short, Charlie caught that. She just didn't know why, exactly. _I'll have to ask Angela._ She thought.

“Great, uh... Good.” Charlie muttered. “We'll just go from work sometime.”

“Yeah.” Elliot replied, waving good-bye before walking away from her. He flipped his hood up before dropping his arms. Honestly, he hoped she would spill coffee on herself again, as weird as it sounds. He didn't mind lending her his hoodie, it gave him a way to talk to her. He also didn't mind that she didn't wash it, he liked the very slight powdery smell she left on it. _That's creepy._ He thought to himself, shaking his head slightly. Elliot had put on the hoodie she gave back to him, rather than putting on the one he'd worn into Allsafe.

He shoved his hands into his sweater pockets, keeping them there as he walked. His hood protected him from any prying eyes, like the men in black suits who followed him. He felt oddly secure in the article of clothing, like it acted as a shield.

That's the way he liked it: that's the way it had always been.


	3. Chat Name

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charlie and Elliot go chat in a bar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Sorry about the late update, I forgot I had to update yesterday!

Charlie was sat at her desk, typing away at her keyboard to try and fill the white document with black text, proving unsuccessful as her fingers froze. She glanced behind her to see Elliot walking in and an idea popped into her head. She opened the chat bar and searched for his name before clicking it and typing.

“It's Charlie, after work would you like to go for that drink?”

Elliot's computer didn't chime as she sent the message, considering it was off, but Elliot hurried to his desk, regardless. His hands were buried in his pockets and his head was covered by the black hood of his sweater. Charlie watched him pull his hands free of the fabric to swiftly slide the hood off his head, running a hand through his hair in order to fix it.

He sat down and unzipped his hoodie, making himself as comfortable as possible before turning everything at his station on. It took a minute, but there was a satisfying ding on Elliot's side of the cubicle. There were a couple clicks before Charlie glanced up to see Elliot looking at her, causing his eyes to snap down and and his fingers to type. Charlie waited a short few seconds before her computer chimed.

“Sure.” Elliot replied, his plain chat-name oddly comforting, considering everyone in the office had weird playoffs of their actual names as their usernames. “Where would you like to go?” He added, glancing at Charlie again.

“Ron's Coffee, maybe?” She typed before sending. Elliot made a slightly panicked noise, typing back.

“We can't.” He sent it. “Go Google 'Ron's Coffee' and see why.” And Charlie did, reading every little drop of what had been going on there before wrinkling her nose, shivering and typing.

“Then a bar, maybe. Coffee seems to not be in our future.” She sent it, realizing how weird it sounded after she had. 

“A bar is good.” Elliot replied before Gideon walked out of his office, both Charlie and Elliot scrambled to close the chat, and Charlie also saved her document and turned off Netflix which she had going in the background. She brought up some work things, displaying them all over her screen. Elliot simply opened a folder and locked his eyes onto his screen, something he did every morning.

Charlie glanced behind her to see Gideon heading directly towards her, and much to her dismay, he stopped beside her. 

“Hello, Charlotte.”

“Charlie.” She corrected easily. 

“Right, sorry, Charlie.” Gideon muttered, nodding curtly. “Did you submit your late work yet, or no?”

Charlie nodded, watching Gideon's eyes. “Just did, boss.” This brought a smile to his face as he reached out and patted her shoulder. Elliot watched as Charlie smiled weakly and flinched slightly, subtly leaning away from him as he pulled his hand away. 

Gideon walked away after, having been standing there a whole minute without saying anything he waved and went back to his office. 

Elliot went into his browser and typed a link, waiting for the page to open as he glanced at Charlie, head down with her eyes locked on the screen. The blue and white page loaded and Elliot felt his eyes roll as he stared at the Facebook logo. 

It was Charlie's page. Charlie James was in black letters beside her icon, which was her and her friend Amy, even though Elliot wasn't supposed to know that. He'd gone through pictures to find out, he was happy he didn't need to go through messages, though. Her header was a Captain America reference, the words “This isn't freedom, this is fear” sat across a black canvas with a burning SHIELD logo at the top. 

He knew she was a fan of the character, considering he'd heard her talking about him to Angela during a break of hers, he also knew she was far more fond of his “sidekick” Bucky Barnes than the Captain himself. He also knew this because she had countless posts about him to her tumblr. She didn't have twitter, or instagram, or anything else. She didn't like them.

“Hey, Chas!” Angela grinned as she walked over to the taller female whose height was only knocked down because she was sitting.

“Hi.” Charlie grinned back, nodding to her. The two started a conversation, Charlie glancing over her shoulder every so often to look at her friend as she typed before pointing to the screen. This caused Angela to bend down, read something before smiling.

“That's so good!” She complimented, gently patting Charlie's back. Elliot was surprised when she didn't flinch, or lean back from it, instead she leaned into slightly, thanking Angela quietly before the blonde spoke again. “I don't wanna get you in trouble, so I'm gonna get back to work.”

Charlie nodded slightly, and just like that she began working again, the day going by quickly. Elliot and Charlie left together, but only Elliot caught Angela's eyebrow wiggle. They walked a short distance before coming up to a bar, the two walking in together.

They ordered drinks, Elliot got a beer and Charlie got the same. 

“I don't like those fruity cocktail things, the ones that girls get at clubs.” She stated as they sat at the bar, awaiting their drinks. It was a short wait, considering the bartender leaned down, swiped up two bottles before twisting off the caps and handing them the bottles. 

“Thanks.” Charlie said, for the both of them. They nurse their bottles before they actually talked, Charlie being the first one to speak. “I'm twenty five, I'm sort of extroverted, I don't like to work and people annoy the shit out of me.” 

Elliot was surprised when she said all this, quick to speak as she stared into her bottle. He cleared his throat, took a deep breath and began. “I'm twenty eight, I have social anxiety, I'm introverted and don't like people touching me.” He paused. “Oh, and people annoy the shit out of me.” He said, using Charlie's words. She laughed softly, looking towards him after having a staring contest with the amber liquid inside her bottle. 

“So, anything you like?” She asked Elliot, watching him nod. The two talked for a while, this was before Charlie got a phone call from her mom, answered it and talked for a few minutes with Elliot awkwardly sitting next to her, drinking his beer. She wasn't being rude, Elliot had said it was no problem if she needed to answer it, so she did. 

After the call, they talked for a bit more and after a couple beers, they left. Elliot made sure Charlie got a cab and was heading home, they'd exchanged phone numbers, too. He'd told her to text him when she got into her place safely. And she did, right before she fell asleep. 

He smiled to himself as he walked home, hands once more buried in his pockets but only after he put up his hood. 

Their relationship was getting somewhere now.


	4. Fine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gideon causes Charlie to freak out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This is a day late, I know! But I'm balancing stories right now! I've got so much written for certain ones and nothing at all for others. This is kind of short, also, sorry about any mistakes!

“Hey, Charlie?” Gideon asked as he approached her, holding a folder. Elliot glanced over the edge of his cubicle. Charlie sighed, pulling out her earbuds as she saw the older man approach her.

“Did I do something wrong?”

“No, uh – just something in your file.”

“What?” Charlie asked, confused as she knitted her eyebrows together. “What do you mean, like, my work one?”

“Yes. Just a complication.” Gideon replied, watching her push her chair back from her desk. “If you'd come with me to my office...” He didn't have to say it twice as Charlie stood. She glanced at Elliot to see him watching the exchange before he flicked his eyes down to his screen. The two walked back to Gideon's office and a few heads glanced over their cubicle walls to watch them.

Elliot watched as Charlie was offered a seat in Gideon's office, she took it and Gideon sat down in his, too. It was a couple minutes before Elliot saw Charlie shoot up from her seat, her voice raising as she waved her hands around. Elliot watched Gideon stand up too, putting a hand in front of himself. He was taking her down, trying to calm her.

Charlie whipped around on her heel, opening his door quickly before going to her seat, chest heaving as she breathed heavily. Her face red as Gideon went to his door, watching her for a moment as she began angrily typing on her keyboard. Elliot was paying attention to his computer as she typed, the clicking and clacking moving quickly as her fingers did. 

As she typed, her computer struggled to keep up as she typed. She hit something and stopped typing, presumably turning off her computer before she stood. Charlie wrapped her earbuds into a circle before tucking them into her small leather backpack, pushing her phone in her jeans pocket before swinging the strap over her shoulder.

Elliot watched her storm off to the restroom, listening to his computer ding. _He'd gotten a message. A document message._

He glanced back up to see no sign of Charlie and opened it, reading it over.

_Here I sit, being interrogated and strong armed._

_Here I sit, wasting my life._

_Here I sit, taking the flack._

_Here I sit, I want my life back._

Elliot furrowed his eyebrows at the words. Meanwhile, in the bathroom, Charlie was staring into the mirror, the cold water running as she washed her face. Elliot closed the document and jogged over to Angela.

“Can you go check on Charlie?” He asked quietly, leaning over her desk as Ollie watched them. “Please? She's in the restroom.”

“Yeah, sure. What happened?” Angela asked, standing up as she saved her work. 

“I don't know.” Elliot replied before leading her to the restroom and waiting on the outside. Angela went in, slowly pushing open the door as her eyes fixed on the back of the tall woman. 

“Hey, Chas?”

“ _What?_ ” She snapped, looking at Angela in the reflection of the mirror as she began clenching her jaw. She turned off the water, standing straight before turning around. “I'm sorry.”

“Are you okay?” Angela questioned.

“Who's asking?” Charlie replied, tearing a paper towel from the dispenser before she patted her face dry, taking in a deep breath.

“Me... And Elliot.” Angela stated, meeting Charlie's eyes. 

“I'm fine.” Charlie replied, leaning down to pick up her bag. “Honestly, I am. Just a bit of an issue with Gideon.”

“We all have those.” Angela shrugged slightly, watching Charlie. “He's worried though, I can see it in his eyes.”

“Tell him I'm fine.” Charlie repeated the last part a bit more harshly before she opened the door, seeing Elliot standing there. “I'm fine.” She told him. She took the look of confusion on his face as an exit plan and took off, walking quickly to the doors. She pulled them open, exited and began down the stairs rather than the elevator. 

Charlie needed time to think.


End file.
